Is it possible to build your entire level in maya?

[legacy-the supersparkl]

hi there...i know that you can create static meshes of ramps and doorways and such, but i wonder why not just build the whole thing in maya and export the level in it's entirety. has anyone tried this or do i have to make the basic layout using the incredibly frustrating brushes in the editor...and then pretty it up later.

thanks for your help!

[Angel_Mapper]

CTF-Magma was made entirely in an external program (besides the obvious initial subtraction brush, actor placement etc).

[legacy-ImaCarrot]

That's how I tend to work. Reading your thread again, I hope you don't mean import the entire level as one object, please do not do that!

Carrot

[legacy-f4t4l0n3]

Ive seen the levels created for Darkwatch, I know that its a different engine but alot of designers model the entire lvl in Max and export. Just make sure your comp can handle it within the editor. I know it will probably crash alot. Its better to split it up and keep the meshes, meshes, and the terrain as one. Plus, you can move around items if you dont like the setup rather than having to go into Maya/Max and detach or move then save and export again. There are other little things that you want to do in the editor rather than the modeling program your using like water and particle effects. Thats just my opinion, I know there are ways around these things but its just the way you go about doing it.

[legacy-willrix]

That's how I tend to work. Reading your thread again, I hope you don't mean import the entire level as one object, please do not do that!

Carrot

Just curious, how would one take the level made in Maya and get it into UnrealED so one could place actors and pickups et al without importing...?

[legacy-chavez]

DM Gestalt is also made entirely from staticmeshes.
The point is, do not use only one big mesh for the whole Level.

[InvadrZIM]

ya, key word is **meshes** not *mesh*

mesh would wreck hell on almost any 64 MB vid card :bulb:

[legacy-willrix]

DM Gestalt is also made entirely from staticmeshes.
The point is, do not use only one big mesh for the whole Level.

Ah, that should have been obvious... thanks! :up:

[pressST4RT]

Well I mean I'm not sure why you would want to make the entire level as one static mesh. That doesn't sound like it'd be very interesting. Anyway, I've seen it done before. You have to build each asset one at a time (Terrain, buildings, characters, etc.). And you don't wanna put them all in at the same time because that's just pure death. Just. Pure. Death.

[Sly.]

MDK1311 does that. He creates his whole maps in a 3D-modelling program. He's a great mapper and you should check out his works, the lighting looks better than what you would achieve with default UE2-lightmaps.

And welcome to the Epic Games forum pressST4RT!

However, you should know that those with "legacy-" in front of their name are members from the old Atari-forums. After they were ported over, legacy was added in front of their forum nicknames, that was because it could have been very well possible that the name would exist on the new forum by then, some of those who stayed also made new accounts afterwards.

And always check the date of the last post in a thread, threads that are more than 2 years old (counting from last post) are usually not worth being bumped as the author eventually found the answer himself and especially not such that are 6+ years old like this one as either the authors of the posts and threads moved on (often the case on a subforum of an old game like UT2003 and UT2004) or are simply not active anymore. So, the reply could be considered a waste of time.

However, great to see that at least a new member seems to use the search function, many people tend to forget about it.
And judging by your posts, I assume you were actually looking for UDK-related topics, correct? If so, I recommend to use the advances search function and to check whether you are really in the UDK subforums. Simply check the bar below the header, here it says:
Forum -> Unreal Tournament 2003/2004 -> Level Editing, Modeling & Skinning -> Is it possible to build your entire level in maya?

Cheers!

[Flak Master]

One question- I'm told that UT2004 comes with Maya, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on my PC, and I don't ever remember being given an option to install it when I installed the game. My question is whether UT2004 comes with Maya or not. I'm wondering since I'd be interested in making some custom static meshes myself.

[arbee]

It's on the retail disc releases and not steam or anthology bundle releases. It can be found on some of the last, non "mod" discs.

[Baryonyx]

That maya PLE ("Personal Learning edition") is not included anymore AFAIK. At least it was not on my Dvd.

[GreatEmerald]

And the one that came with the CDs most likely don't function anymore (IIRC you still need to activate it, yet it's such an old version that the activation page no longer exists).

However, feel free to use Blender for all your Static Mesh modelling needs!